Personalized picture playing cards



Dec. 22, 1953 E. GRUNWALD PERSONALIZED PICTURE PLAYING CARDS Filed Feb. 14, 1951 INVENTOR. EDWARD GRUNWALD :4r/mmf Patented Dec. 22, 1953 aaa-fails.V BEiisQNALIzEDJiiCTURE. nella@ Gangs. Islaam Gramyala, New York, N; y.. Applieaiiil.lieibman@y 14, 19.5.1', Settima 2.10.,.959. 3i Claims. (Cl- 20G-1112*).

This. invention. relates. to. new, and.. useful im.- igrovements. in playing cards; and. more particu.- larly.. the aim. is. to.. provide. a novel and. Valuable deck of playing cards characterized, by thef'a'ct that each of the cards ofthe deck may readily be individualized, or, more accurately, personalized to the owner of the deck, as byl carrying, on the faceA or on the back o f. all or some of-` said Cards, aV reproduction of the signature of said owner, a picturization of the said. owners, home o r of himself or of a member of his family, or the like.V

According to o ne way. of. carrying the. inventioninto practise, a. reproduction or picturization of the kindvjust indicated, iseiected photograph; ically, as by the, owner of the deck'of cards following his purchase of said deck.

In the connection immediately above, a feature ofthe invention. is that'each. of the cards of the deck as manufactured forsale carries on the face and/or back of said. card a coating of sensitized material of; the kind used in the makingof photographic plates and film.

A n ancillary. object is, ink thev same. connection, toprovidea deck of cards` each card of` which is sensitized as just stated, yet with each card protected against any.Y chance of accidentally permitting said sensitized material to become light Struck, evenv thoiigl'iknevi-nthc1655.; said. Gard-g deck may be used, one or more times. inv playing a card game before making use of said sensitized material to. effect photographic transfer to a card ofthe desired personalizing laddi-tion.

For further comprehension of the invention, and. of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and 'accompanying drawings, andl to the appendedl claims in which the-Various novel features` of the inventionaremore particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig 1 elevaiionallyshows.thciface of one of the cards ofV a deck of cardsof, theconventional four suit kind, with the card th'us Yshown .being the four of hearts.

Fig. 2 is a section. taken on the. line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing al coating o f sensitized` material on the back of the card.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of said card, after a personalizing addition has been photographically added thereto by utilization of said coating of sensitized material.

Fig. 4 is a View in perspective showing a card in the condition indicated in the case of the card shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with said card in an envelope.

Eig., 5- .1mm@ scale. atouttwice. @naief @ai 0i, tchathe; views, is sectigii; tali/er1 the. 1in? 'Fia 6; is; 'a' fragmentary, section. taten oii the Fig. 7 Yisa frasmentarx Section. taken Qn v1.19

line 1,7101 Fig. 5.

Referring' now.. to the.v drawing. more. 1.1.1. detail the Said. Card. is designated 1.0; arid the, Saillie is. herein Shown. it has Single coating Q .f` Sensi:

tized. material. with. this.. meting. designate@ l1 on theback ofthe card;

the. embodiment.illustrated?. Said. @eating U; constitutes invariant Pari" 0f. the. mme whereby each Caid f. the' declsis to. carry.. vergla- Iierliiyfand. by pheiogravhic. transfer (fasfi iii a photographic. negative. in.- the psse'ssiiijof' iii@ Ormea): pefsoiializiria additioningthe. 1.1.1. fa reproduction. Oil tiieowners nature a' 12.15;.- tuisizatin 0i. an appropriate kind.- Somabilt. all 0f 'the possible/vicini ,ations have been a1..- readrmentir1e-dhriii- The. Saidi rersgnaliziilg. addition.. is Qbieiiiee. in the. case. 0f.- eahi Car Qi tiiadecli/by aprosaiiiire which. iiivlres placlria over.' Said. Cia-ating. Lia. phpieeraphic negative ias, indicated ai I2. iii Eig'- 2 carrying the pelisgilliiiis. metile? desired. t9. be added to the card; subjecting'these 'parts lari aridl.2.= to.. a suiient 1ight p0si1ieie eiieei fi piictggraphic transiei irfom the. nesaitefl t9 tile, Coating, U .z s pareiine iii. negativen@ the. card; Vdeveloping thecoating IQI ing .g A v l so developed, as the one. show-n at L4, 1 i 3, and.. their Wasiiiiiaand. diyii'g the.. cam .Said iiriaaefis illustrated. as ilia'hoiosraph 0f. a little daughiewf'theiwner @i the deck! Tibia).when this.. proeiiiirais Completed. @5.110. allgthe cardsjoithe deck., a deck. is'n. lyrhad all the different.. @artis which haw@I backs, usual amiiieessary so that.. tha .its andizalues, of the'din"erentd cards-Q c a not be de-V ittedj merelyfmm lacking. ai the! Gambetta. ist eac or said aards is. Reisoriaiized. according. t@

ilfe. intention.,

Ii is 'te be; we dtliai in.. Carryingiiie iiiiaee: tion. im@ practise. the sensitized. ga" Y, be @thence-0f.aarasaihatiiiefage0 th @are Carril. the personalized addition-, Sedi case, the backs of the cards Will be made identical in any suitable manner, as by having al1 of said backs plain, as of a solid color, or by having them all carry the same geometrical, iioral or other design. The picture may be of either black and White or colored photographs or paintings.

Also, in carrying out the invention, all the cards of the deck may have identical backs, with acca/iis this similarity of me backs resulting from making them all plain, or all of one color, or all having the same design, or all having added thereto an initial corresponding to that of the owner of the deck, or all carrying the same photographically transferred addition pursuant to the invention, and, at the same time, the faces of the cards may carry photographically transferred additions, pursuant to the invention, with each of these last named additions, for example, different in the case of the cards of different suits, but with all of them, also, pursuant to the invention, personalized to the owner of the deck of cards. Any such personalized addition will be referred to as a personalized indicium.

After making the cards themselves, as, forv I instance, the deck of cards one of which is that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said deck is iinally prepared for marketing by packaging the same in a way to protect the sensitized coatings on the cards from becoming light struck pending photographic transfer thereto of the personalizing indicia. Desirably, the deck is thus packaged by placing each card in an envelope such as the one illustrated at I5 in Figs. 4 through 7.

Said envelope, it will be noted, vis an open top sack having two side walls I6 and Il, with each wall of the same shape and size as the card I0. These walls, like said card, have rounded corners of very small radius; and, with said walls joined suitably all along their bottoms and all along both sides up to small roundings corresponding to the two rounded corners at an end of the card, the sack I5 would be light-tight (ex cept at its open top) if made of opaque material. Accordingly, said sack is made opaque all over, except at atransparent area of the wall I6, this area being suiciently large and being suitably placed to expose therethrough the suit and value indications of the face of the card. The sack i5 is desirably made of a very thin highly flexible material such as Pliolm, cellophane or the like. A coating I8 of adhesive is extended band-like across the top of the wall Il at the inner side thereof; and three spots I9 of said adhesive are spaced across the top of the wall I6 at the inside of said wall.

The adhesive desirably used is one of the well known kinds, which is normally tacky, adherent consequent upon application of slight pressure, and releasable by slight pull.

Following insertion of a card into its said envelope I5, with the sensitized back of the card facing the wall I'I, the item is completed for merchandising by effecting a rubbing stroke under pressure against the outer side of said'wall I1 opposite to and along the direction of eX- tension of the adhesive coating I8. By this simple single step, the interior of the envelope I5 is sealed off across its top thereby to insure that no light can strike the sensitized coating I I and at the same time the wall I6 is attached to the face of the card at points corresponding to the locations of the three adhesive spots I9.

With all the cards of the deck thus individually enveloped, the deck of cards may be used for the playing of any desired number of games;

and then, when the owner of the deck is ready to effect the desired photographic transfers of personalized indicia to the different cards, these may be removed one by one from their envelopes for the purpose of making said photographic additions. Removal from a card I0 of its envelope I5 is easily and quickly accomplished in a darkroom or like place; as, following insertion of a spatula or the like into the space between any two of the adhesive spots I9, all said spots may be readily separated from the card by pull on the upper end of the wall I6, afterwhich the envelope may be expeditiously ripped oi the card, with separation of the adhesive band I8 away from the card the last effected occurrence. f

While I have illustraed and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming Within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of a light sensitized playing card and envelope comprising, a playing card containing a light sensitive coating on one side thereof, and an envelope including an opaque wall and `an opposite transparent wall, said card being received in the envelope with the light sensitive side adjacent said opaque wall, and a layer of adhesive across the top of said opaque wall and secured to said card to prevent entry of light therein.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the transparent wall includes spaced spots of adhesive to temporarily secure the card in the envelope, said spots being readily separated from the card when the envelope is to be removed.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the walls of the envelope have rounded corners so that when the envelope is closed it is light-tight.

EDWARD GRUNWALD.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 35,861 Wilson July 8, 1862 817,663 Piferv Apr. 10, 1906 874,644 Torrani Dec. 24, 1907 1,109,543 Phipps Sept. 1, 1914 1,232,796 Hardenbrook July 10, 1917 1,455,724 Hantsch May 15, 1923 1,536,345 Jones May 5, 1925 2,369,031 Engle Feb. 6, 1945 2,592,122 De Jesus Apr. 8, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 52,109 Netherlands Feb. 17, 1942 OTHER REFERENCES Pop. Science Monthly, December 1940, page 211. 

